KOST (103.5 FM) morning man Mark Wallengren finally has a new partner – after almost a year flying solo following the budget-cutting layoff of his co-host of 22 years, Kim Amidon.

Wallengren’s new partner is Kristin Cruz.

Cruz comes to Los Angeles from San Diego, where she was the longtime host of the “Love Songs” program on KYXY (96.5 FM).

The new Mark and Kristin show made its debut Monday.

“There is no other station that defines L.A. for me like KOST,” Cruz said in a statement. “Mark is the best at what he does, and I am honored to work with him.”

Added Wallengren, “We could not have made a better choice … It’s going to be a fun ride.”

Good humor

A few weeks back, I took a potshot at Jack FM (KCBS-FM, 93.1), as I discussed the effect of Arbitron’s new Portable People Meter – PPM for short. One effect was that Jack is actually up in the ratings, and I commented, “KCBS-FM’s awful Jack format almost doubled in the PPM ratings compared with the diary method, so I guess we’ll be stuck with it for a while longer.”

Without going into too much detail as to what I don’t like about Jack, I just think the concept is a bit sad – that a station with no personalities outside of a recorded voice can do so well. That a station that claims to play what it wants, rather than what you want, does so well is an indictment of the entire industry, in my opinion.

But my opinion and $2 will get you a cup of coffee, somewhere. The fact is, Jack does do well, and the airwaves are littered with memories of stations I liked that are now gone: KHJ, Ten-Q, KEZY, KMET, K-WEST, KIQQ, pre-rap KIIS-FM, 94 FM, Mix 95.9 … The list goes on and on.

So I actually found the e-mails I got from a few of the Jack staff humorous and refreshing … and somewhat pointed.

Justin Cranfill, responding to my line about the station’s ratings: “Thanks, man! We are awful. It’s great!”

Says Doug Roberts, “Higher praise, Jack could not find.”

And Tami Heide, “If by awful you meant awful good, thanks.”

So I am revising my opinion. If three people can have that much fun and an obvious sense of humor, I can’t knock it. Those three have so changed my opinion of the inner workings of the station that I apologize for taking the shot at them.

And yeah … awful good. That’s what I meant.

Richard Wagoner is a freelance writer based in San Pedro. Send questions to him via e-mail at rwagoner@cox.net.